re: calicash. not with you, of course.
I know you’re a new member. For future reference, place an @sign before someone’s name and they will get notified that you mentioned their name.
I’m not a guidance counselor, but I am a high school teacher. And I can tell you that our guidance people are absolutely swamped with stuff dealing with the kids under their own supervision.
To be honest, I’m guessing that your requests were swept to the bottom of the list. But not out of incompetence. But because, as an 8th grader, your daughter is still outside the GC’s realm of responsibility.
She has to worry about the 200 or so kids that she’s responsible for, before she starts worrying about an outside kid.
Likewise, the principal has a whole lot going on with kids who currently attend the school. So I don’t doubt that it took quite some time for her to even glance at the paperwork you sent in.
You have, what, 1 or 2 or 3 kids?? The principal in my school has 2600. And every single one of them has parents to whom they’re the most important kids in the building-- as it should be.
But the principal has to juggle all those conflicting demands. And worry about high stakes testing. And budgets. And a gazillion other things.
And then worry about the needs of an 8th grader who doesn’t yet attend her school.
Likewise with the guidance counselor.
So I honestly don’t think it’s incompetence, merely the problem of only 24 hours in a day… and possibly a family of her own that she would occasionally like to see.
Oh my… my sympathies to your child.
@OP,
Just out of curiosity, do you permit your kids to engage in any activities without the ulterior motive of padding their CV for college admissions?
I joked earlier about being a slacker parent. But the respondents to your thread are parents/students associated with elite prep schools/colleges, and they all have high ambitions & expectations. In all my years on CC, your posts collectively, are among the most extreme I’ve seen-- I am shocked & awed. Amy Chua was extreme, but I think even she didn’t contrive violin/piano recitals at nursing homes, during middle school, to impress AdComs.
Have you thought ahead to what happens if, god forbid, your kids do not get into HYPMS? These schools do appreciate authenticity. No 9th grader suddenly wakes up and says, “I want to be on the district school board”.
Hey, I’m on a school board, and my kids have asked if we have student members (we don’t), because I’m doing an insufficient job for my constituents of bringing back chocolate milk. 
Anyway, I agree. Have your kids do things that interest them, and they may become interesting to colleges. Read Cal Newport.
Also, I agree that being friendly and grateful toward the GCs and principal will get you a lot farther than emails demanding quick responses. I do know people who requested and received a change of GC, but that was because they were HS students who were given multiple demonstrably wrong pieces of information about graduation requirements, SAT testing, etc.
@cxhw0005 Yes, click on katwkitten’s username and then when it brings it to his/her profile, click message. You can then send her a private message.
GMTplus7 - Reading your words made me think of George Burns’s line -
Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.
However, I will bet that some CC readers won’t see it as a joke, but rather as the starting point for admissions strategy, version 2.0.
be grateful for what you have. my son had 3 principals, 6 stem coordinators and 5 guidance counselors in 4 years. the last counselor left in November but was ‘available by skype’ ( not)
she also sent in wrong transcripts mid year
despite this sons class got gates scholarship, coca cola scholarship admits to Yale stanford columbia Georgetown etc
don’t give up hope!!
Wow. Poor kid. The absolute best thing you can do for your child is to back way way off and let her enjoy high school and find her own interests. Not yours and not what you imagine some college wants her to be.
@Ynotgo Why would you even entertain the request to bring back chocolate milk? Wasn’t it hard enough to get rid of it in the first place?
OP, know that every single moment this guidance counselor spends on your daughter-- who is NOT one of her guidance kids, because your daughter does NOT attend her school-- is a moment taken away from some kid being cyber bullied, or a kid who is bulemic, or a kid on the verge of being thrown out of her house, or a kid who is pregnant, or a kid applying for college, or a kid hunting down a scholarship that will make it possible to attend college.
Three years down the road, when your daughter is the one looking for the scholarships and the internships and the Ivy applications, you’ll want-- and deserve-- for your daughter to have as much time from this woman as possible.
Why should the current crop of high school kids get anything less from her?
Please, let her do her job. Her job is to deal with the kids who attend her school.
Nobody can change anybody. There are options to deal with the situation, but changing somebody is not the option.
-you can make sure that counselor if fired. I bet it is extrememly hard, but you have all rights to try
-you can transfer your kid to a different school
-you do not need to listen to counselor for any advice
-but there is no way you can change her irresponsible ways…impossible
@Ynotgo all i know is that I would not allow my children to live in a school district that didnt value chocolate milk
I am only going to focus on the one point. Depending upon the district, it is completely normal for 8th grade students (I have one right now myself) to be working with the HS guidance counselor. Typically, it is part of the transition phase wherein they are attempting to determine how many sections of which courses they are going to offer based upon the demand.
For everything else, I would bow to the collective wisdom of the board. High School is when we, as parents, get to (have to) start letting go. You are more of an adviser to your child than a director. It is tough for all of us. Too firm or too loose a hand and you mess up horribly.
@MiamiDAP - The OP cannot transfer to a different school at this point. The whole crux of the issue is that the OP’s daughter is not even at this school NOW. She is trying to get a HS counselor to give input about her 8th grade daughter. Were the counselor to spend time on this she might have another line of parents wondering why she wasn’t spending more time on their waitlist follow ups.
She has lots of time for AP, let her have her swimming and band for another year or so, let her make friends at the new school. She should not be skipping social studies. Top schools like well rounded students that have varied interests, not robots that seem to work according to some parental script to academic success.
She likes swimming and band, does she like to compete for piano or does she just want to play for fun?
Let her take the lead.
If you push her she might not be as successful as she would be if it’s her idea.
If you want a quicker answer try taking your question to the district curriculum office. The school counselor does not decide on graduation requirements or have the power to approve substitutions. You might as well ask the people who do rather than using a go-between. And DO NOT preface with the suggestion that the counselor is not doing her job.
I think that this thread has really taken a disrespectful turn.
OP, I understand your anxiety. If this is a public school, the only option you are likely to have is to pucker up and get them to like you and your D. They are all overworked and underpaid. Such is life. You may want to consider a private school where you will pay a lot of money, but have the right to expect more responsiveness.
I found being polite friendly and asking for dates when you can expect things to happen by so that you can call to confirm is helpful. Don’t forget the polite and friendly part.
Finally, I don’t understand why the online course has anything to do with your D’s future HS. Maybe you can explain that. My older D was a great student. However she was not a stellar athlete. For her academics were the source of her positive self-image, and she was and still is very aggressive in that pursuit. She took some outside academic courses and we just told the guidance counselor about them afterwards so that she would know for her letter.
As saintfan said, the HS doesn’t usually determine credit for outside classes. If this is a public school, the district would be the one to do that (or the state). The most the high school durs here is let students and parents know where such approved courses are. Our school website currently has a link to some summer options, for example.